Posts Tagged ‘Matches’

Established in 1990 as a bricks and mortar retailer by Tom and Ruth Chapman, Matchesfashion launched online six years ago and has become a unique luxury fashion retailer, servicing the global market with over 250 international designer labels across womenswear and menswear, with names including Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent and Isabel Marant.

The funding will enable Matches to further expand its rapidly growing online sales, with a focus on key International markets, while continuing to invest in its 14 luxury stores across London.

Tom & Ruth Chapman, joint CEOs Matches said,
“It was incredibly important to us to find partners who understood Matches unique proposition and our vision of how to grow the business across an omni-channel platform. We are pleased to have found them in SEP and Highland – who both completely understand our vision and strategy. This is a key stage in the growth of Matches and we are very excited about what this investment means for our future.”

The investment was led by SEP partners Andrew Davison and Jan Rutherford and from Highland Europe by partner Sam Brooks. Andrew and Sam both now join the company’s board of directors.

Andrew Davidson, partner SEP commented: “We are delighted to be the company’s first private equity backer and to have the opportunity to support such a talented team. Tom and Ruth Chapman have built Matches Fashion into a highly trusted and iconic brand, and are dedicated to offering their customers the highest quality retail experience. Our investment will enable the company to expand its online operations and cement its position as a leading global fashion business.”

Sam Brooks, partner Highland Europe said;
“We are particularly impressed by the multi-channel, international shopping experience that Tom and Ruth and their world-class team have built in Matches Fashion. Their unique approach has resulted in exceptional growth with large international scale potential; we are thrilled to be partnering with Matches through our dedicated European growth fund.”

Growth equity and venture capital investor Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) picked up three top European investment awards last night. SEP won the hotly contested ‘Investor of the Year’, ‘Exit of the Year’ and ‘Venture Capital Fund of the Year’ categories at the Investor AllStars Awards in London, sponsored by GP Bullhound. The awards, in their tenth year, bring together the leading lights of Europe’s venture capital and private equity communities, celebrating the best investments, lucrative exits, the financing of entrepreneurship and all-round professional excellence.

SEP was won the Venture Capital Fund of the Year category, and also Exit of the year for the sale of web traffic management company Zeus Technology to Riverbed (NASDAQ: RVBD) for $140m.The award recognised SEP’s role in growing the business and the value for all shareholders created by the exit. SEP partner Andrew Davison was named Investor of the Year, completing a trio of awards for the firm.

SEP’s Managing Partner Calum Paterson said: “This round-off an excellent twelve months for us, and we are honoured to receive these prestigious awards. I am particularly pleased that Andrew Davison has had his excellent contribution to both SEP and our portfolio companies recognised in this way”.

Operating from offices in Glasgow and London, SEP invests in high growth potential companies in the IT, healthcare and energy sectors. During the qualifying period for the awards, SEP raised two substantial new funds, defying general market sentiment and expanding its investor base. SEP closed a £200 million growth equity and venture capital fund, SEP IV, and a £95m secondaries fund, the Environmental Energies Fund, in partnership with FTSE 100 utilities company SSE plc.

SEP’s current portfolio companies, which are predominantly based in the UK, employ more than 2,000 people in aggregate and include some of the UK’s fastest-growing technology businesses. Approximately one third of SEP’s investments are based in Scotland.

SEP’s portfolio includes flight search engine Skyscanner and CamSemi who were recently listed at numbers 17 and 29 respectively in the 2012 Times Tech Track 100.

Last week SEP announced a £12m growth equity investment in Matches, a leading UK based luxury fashion retailer.

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has completed a £12m growth equity investment in Matches, a leading UK based luxury fashion retailer.

The funding will enable the company to further expand its rapidly growing online sales, with a focus on key international markets, while continuing to invest in its 14 luxury stores across London.

Matches will close 2012 with a turnover of over £50million, with 60% driven by online, a growth of 120% on 2011.

Established in 1990 as a bricks and mortar retailer by Tom and Ruth Chapman, Matchesfashion launched online six years ago and has become a unique luxury fashion retailer, servicing the global market with over 250 international designer labels across womenswear and menswear, with names including Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Isabel Marant.

The investment was led by SEP partner Andrew Davison, who has joined the company’s board of directors.

He said: “We are delighted to be the company’s first private equity backer and to have the opportunity to support such a talented team. Tom and Ruth Chapman have built Matches Fashion into a highly trusted and iconic brand, and are dedicated to offering their customers the highest quality retail experience. Our investment will enable the company to expand its online operations and cement its position as a leading global fashion business.”

Matches Fashion is the latest addition to SEP’s e-commerce portfolio which also includes Edinburgh based Skyscanner, the world’s most comprehensive flight search company, which was recently listed at No 17 in this year’s Sunday Times Tech Track 100.”

About Scottish Equity Partners

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) is a leading UK growth equity and venture capital firm. Operating from offices in Glasgow and London, SEP invests in innovative, high growth potential companies in the sectors such as IT, healthcare and energy. SEP’s approach is to provide hands-on support for the companies it invests in, as well as capital, and the firm is recognised as the partner of choice by many of the UK’s high growth potential companies. SEP’s current portfolio comprises award-winning high growth companies including flight search engine Skyscanner (www.skyscanner.net); managed IT services provider Control Circle (www.controlcircle.com); 2012 Times Tech Track 100 listed Camsemi (www.camsemi.com); Media Ingenuity (www.mediaingenuity.com) a specialist in online marketing services and technology for the financial services sector; Cmed (www.cmedgroup.com) which combines full clinical research services with advanced clinical data capture and management technology; and healthcare informatics company Aridhia (www.aridhia.com).

Established in 1990 as a bricks and mortar retailer by Tom and Ruth Chapman, Matchesfashion launched online six years ago and has become a unique luxury fashion retailer, servicing the global market with over 250 international designer labels across womenswear and menswear with names including Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Isabel Marant. Matches now have 14 bricks and mortar stores and ship to over 120 countries worldwide.

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has completed a £12m growth equity investment in Matches, a leading UK based luxury fashion retailer.
The funding will enable the company to further expand its rapidly growing online sales, with a focus on key international markets, while continuing to invest in its 14 luxury stores across London.
Matches will close 2012 with a turnover of over £50million, with 60% driven by online, a growth of 120% on 2011.
Established in 1990 as a bricks and mortar retailer by Tom and Ruth Chapman, Matchesfashion launched online six years ago and has become a unique luxury fashion retailer, servicing the global market with over 250 international designer labels across womenswear and menswear, with names including Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Isabel Marant.
The investment was led by SEP partner Andrew Davison, who has joined the company’s board of directors.
He said: “We are delighted to be the company’s first private equity backer and to have the opportunity to support such a talented team. Tom and Ruth Chapman have built Matches Fashion into a highly trusted and iconic brand, and are dedicated to offering their customers the highest quality retail experience. Our investment will enable the company to expand its online operations and cement its position as a leading global fashion business.”
Matches Fashion is the latest addition to SEP’s e-commerce portfolio which also includes Edinburgh based Skyscanner, the world’s most comprehensive flight search company, which was recently listed at No 17 in this year’s Sunday Times Tech Track 100.